Student Association ballot nearly complete
The Student Association Senate voted to put five constitutional amendments on the spring elections ballot and rejected Rice PRIDE and Rice Apps’ requests to be blanket tax organizations. While the ballot will not be voted on until Feb. 24, the SA has nearly finalized what will be voted on by the general student body in the upcoming election.
Executive elections
Trevor Tobey is running unopposed for president after a defeat to current SA President Jae Kim in last year’s election. The Hanszen College junior is the current SA Parliamentarian, who spearheaded the proposal of the first four constitutional amendments. Duncan College junior Callum Flemister is conducting a write-in campaign.
The race for External Vice President is contested between Lajward Zahra, a McMurtry College sophomore, and Mahtab B. Dastur, a Duncan College sophomore.
The Internal Vice President race is contested between Sohani Sandhu, a McMurtry junior, and Ananya A. Nair, a McMurtry freshman.
Blanket Tax Organizations
Blanket Tax Organizations are funded by an $85 fee included in student tuition, which is distributed by the SA. Organizations seeking BTO status are given blanket tax status through the student body vote. However, Senate voted against putting blanket tax status requests by Rice Apps and Rice PRIDE on the ballot, so neither will receive BTO status.
PRIDE requested BTO status because their funding from the DEI fund was reduced, according to the blanket tax access report. According to SA Treasurer Thomas Ngo, PRIDE’s funding was cut by about $4,000. Ngo estimated that PRIDE spent around $3,500 in fiscal year 2023, $9,500 in fiscal year 2024 and has spent $5,000 to date in the current fiscal year.
In order to receive BTO status, an organization must demonstrate a strong financial need, according to the blanket tax access report.
According to SA President Jae Kim, PRIDE was invited to speak at the Feb. 10 senate meeting. No representative of PRIDE was present during that meeting.
Rice Apps was also rejected after debate about what blanket tax funds would be used for within their organization. While Rice Apps does some work exclusively for the Rice community, such as the Rice Carpool rideshare planning app, much of their work is done for nonprofit organizations outside of Rice.
Representatives for Rice Apps said at the Feb. 10 senate meeting that all blanket tax funds would be exclusively used for Rice-specific projects, but concerns were raised about how this would be enforced. Senate members also raised concerns about the exclusivity of Rice Apps, which requires an application process to join, when BTOs are meant to benefit the entirety of the Rice student body.
The SA is also planning to remove the BTO status of Rice Student Volunteer Programs due to consistent inactivity, according to Kim. Kim said that the organization was poorly managed and the current leadership of RSVP agreed to dissolve the organization.
The funds currently allocated to RSVP out of the blanket tax — some $8,700 last fiscal year, according to Ngo — would instead fund service events, which Kim said is in alignment with RSVP’s original intentions as a BTO.
Constitutional amendments
Constitutional amendments require a simple majority of the student body’s approval. Four of the amendments, proposed by the Constitutional Revisions Committee, would constitute broad and sweeping changes to the structure and functioning of the SA.
The first amendment corrects typos and grammatical errors and renames some of the commissions within the SA.
The second amendment largely reshapes the power structure of the executive branch. It removes the voting power of executive members, excluding the president who does not have a vote except for tie-breakers. This power is replaced with the ability of the executive branch to set the agenda collectively, a power that was previously reserved for the president.
Amendment two also reduces the threshold to pass resolutions from two-thirds of Senate voting members to a simple majority. The president is then granted veto power, which can be overridden by a two-thirds vote by the Senate.
Amendment three reshapes the organization of the Blanket Tax Committee, which oversees the funding of organizations by student tuition money. The two BTO officers on the committee, who historically have been leadership members from the Thresher and the Rice Program Council, would be removed, and the funds would be distributed by a committee of three SA senators and the unchanged three members of the student body.
The fourth amendment clarifies some election rules and removes the power of the Election Committee to remove candidates who have already assumed office if they are found to be in violation of election rules.
Amendment five, proposed by SA Treasurer Thomas Ngo, would increase the blanket tax from $85 to $90 to account for inflation.
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